Price Competition in Korean Retail Gasoline Market: Focusing on Spatial Effects

국내 주유소 시장의 휘발유 가격경쟁 분석: 공간 효과를 중심으로

Purpose - This study conducts an empirical analysis on gasoline pricing of Korean retail gas stations focusing on spatial effects. Unlike previous studies, the study uses an official land price for a proxy of the importance of location, and also allows the spatial effects from other competing gas stations as well. Research design, data, and methodology - In collection of data, we obtain more abundant data than those of previous studies. The gasoline prices used in the study are 909,084 observations as daily data from January 1 to July 31 of the year 2016. A proxy for the land price is collected by linking official public land price data with address information on each gas station. For the estimation, the study employs the Panel Spatial Dubin Model to make the best use of the collected location information. Results - As expected, spatial properties of gas stations have significant effects on the gasoline price. As the price per square meter increases by 100 thousands won, the price of gasoline rises 9 won per liter. Among other characteristics, the price increases by 16 won per liter if the station has a convenience store, and about 5 won if it has a car wash service. Gasoline price in Singapore accounted for 26% of variations in domestic gasoline prices. SK Energy and GS Caltex are the top brands in terms of price. The study also finds prices and other important properties of competing gas stations have significant effects on others' prices. Prices of competing gas station have a positive relationship with those of others. If a competing gas station raises the price, the gas station also raises the price, and lowering the price lower the price. Among brands, GS Caltex has the greatest downward pressure on nearby gas stations. Conclusions - The study confirms that location value of gas stations affect their gasoline prices, and the prices of the competing gas stations also have a significant effects on their prices. It suggests that the prices in the competing retail areas tend to be synchronized with each other.